


Heavy

by RooftopRush



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Galo cries, Hurt/Comfort, Implications of prostitution and other real hard things but its not detailed or graphic, Lio Cries, M/M, Not Beta Read, Oneshot, References to gang life drugs death murder, hugs and kisses, lots of soft sweet cuddles, they both cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:22:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22419964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RooftopRush/pseuds/RooftopRush
Summary: Galo knew what he was going to get when he asked Lio what becoming a Burnish was like.Somehow, he was still unprepared for it.Inspired by this tweet; https://twitter.com/kolio_fotia/status/1221370266707644416
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 4
Kudos: 87





	Heavy

**Author's Note:**

> I could be the only, I could be the only one

It's not often Lio talks about this. But it's not often he finds someone worth talking to about it either.

Everyone knew, knew from the moment he stepped into their lives, Lio Fotia was numb to the pain. From his walk, his talk, his actions and his reactions that this was someone who had surpassed that. But nothing really speaks to it like the act of speaking itself, and watching the memories flash through eyes that have seen it all and only expect to see more. 

Listening, understanding, and positive intent behind it, they're all rare things to find in a person. Lio finds it important to reward these traits, lest they disappear from the world altogether.

Galo knew what he was going to hear when he asked Lio to talk about what it was like. And somehow, he was still unprepared for it. 

Lio regards him with a seriousness that is uncommon, in their company. He stares at him openly. Takes a measured sip of his drink, and sets it back down on the coffee table before him. "Are you sure?" He asks. 

Galo shifts on the couch, wishing Lio hadn't said that, because now he's starting to second-guess himself. He barely lets it show, before crossing his arms, fixing his legs into a studious pretzel and belting, much too loud, "Of course!" His hands come down on each knee. Blue eyes intense and drilling into Lio, sitting across from him. "Why wouldn't I be?! You know I'm a man of my word."

And maybe he's just trying to convince himself- Not with his words, but with the excess of enthusiasm. He's loud, yeah, but he's not This loud when it's just the two of them- sitting on the couch, where they're supposed to be relaxing in their downtime- and Galo knows why. Lio is making him nervous. He's out of character. He's _quiet_. Somber. It's weird and unsettling. It throws him off. Lio is just as, if not more, fiery than he himself. But when Galo popped the question, Lio seemed to settle. Colluding into himself in such a way that still strikes him as just... not right. Not okay. Off. Like watching a ghost walk across a hall from far away.

He wants Lio to yell back. To smirk. To call him an idiot. But instead, he regards him with a gaze thats tiptoeing between gentle, and foreboding. 

It's Pandoras box, and Galo knows it. But to back out now would be a disservice to Lio. To the burnish. He can't turn a blind eye to it, he needs to know. It's a flu shot, a wake up call, a necessary pain he must take responsibility for because listening to it is The Least he can do, as someone who will never have to go through it himself. 

Galo smiles, swallows- Equal parts nerves and enthusiasm.

"How much do you want?" Lio asks. "Becoming burnish, forming the gang-"

"Everything." Galo interrupts. "I want everything."

"Alright." Lio says, finally breaking eye contact. "But it's not going to be pretty."

Lio clears his throat, settles in opposite to Galo, and begins. And the more Lio talks, the more he hears, the more he realizes just how different they are. 

He had no idea just how vast the gap between them really was, until now. 

Lio talks about his parents, about how they were filthy rich British aristocrats that he hardly remembers because most of it is blocked out by the trauma induced when they died. That they come through in photographs and snapshots of memory, and that Lio tries not to think about how the flames were a double edged sword because when everything is ash, nothing is discernible. He talks about how after that, his parent's were simply "gone" and there was no discernible parental figure for him anymore so much as there was always an older, elite member that would look after him, one that he must respect, and ones that he must never, ever talk to, or challenge until he was ready. Lio talks about how his resolve not to kill wasn't one he always had. That he himself was not always, and still doesn't really, consider himself a good person. That there are reasons he knows how to cook, how to spot undercover cops, feds, authority, that none of them came from a happy home and white picket fence. That he had to work for skill and become skilled for work. That not all work was in guns and drugs and hits and security. 

Galo is already tearing up. The saddest part is that, everything Lio says, is said so far away. So normal. Like none of it was traumatizing. All of it was normal. And Galo knows that it's because for Lio, it was. 

The picture Lio paints of becoming a burnish is not a hero rising to the hopes and dreams of a city, and neither is it Batmans dark calling towards the world. It's a fucked up, twisted, confused, terrifying mixture of the two, culminating through the constant in-fighting that happens when you're orphaned in gang ridden, crime-infested cities like Detroit. 

"Eventually," Lio says, "I saw the bigger picture." 

"What was it?" Galo asks.

"We were destroying the peace we sought to create. Ruining lives by trying to build ours up, and never getting anywhere."

Lio goes onto describe his realization that, the freedom and oppression they saw themselves fighting against, the same that his aristocrat parents probably made their livings on, was never going to come about when they themselves spent the majority of their days terrorizing everyone- Even each other-- With their newly given burnish power. Taking a sip from his cup as he speaks, wise beyond his years. "When you fight among yourselves, you do the enemies work for them."

It strikes Galo where he sits, how deep the chasm is between them. Chills him to his bones. It's like he doesn't know Lio at all, and he arguably knows him more than a whole lot of people. How much more has he gone through? How much more is there to him that he doesn't know? He wonders if all the burnish are like this. If Meis and Guiera are also wise beyond their years, burned and scarred by a whole lot more than the promare. 

Lio says that he struggled with this realization for a long time. That there were many times he second guessed himself. Only he could've done what he did, in retrospect, because no one else had had the stores of raw burnish power needed to successfully escape.

"Escape?" Galo asks, brows drawn in confusion.

"I split off from the gang." Lio explains, and how no one ever really gets to split off. They follow you for years, and if Lio hadn't been as powerful as he had, someone would've eventually cornered him and killed him. Whether they be a rival gang member or not. 

They days after that were filled with loneliness and hunger. He had to be under the radar for a while, at so young, because if it were a citizen, the police could be called. If it were another burnish, or gang affiliate, he could be killed. And it was here, Lio describes his armor and material manifestation coming into play. That the power to derive helmets and bikes comes from the power to make other things as well. Like shoes after his own were worn into the dirt, and he could hardly walk without risk of infection and injury. Or bags with which to carry supplies, canteens for water, simple clothes. His flames had truly become his first and only friend. The only thing he could trust as he made deserted treks though what was left of barren american wilderness and suburban landscape. Locking away his heart and his trust wasn't a choice, it was utterly and completely necessary for survival. 

"I was sure I would just die out there one day." Lio comments, expression clouded over in memory. "I thought my life was bad from the start, and I just managed to ruin it even more." He snorts, tired and satirical. "I didn't even think it was possible." Hes about to go into a lighter turn-- How he's about to meet Mei's and Guiera on newly burnished flames and bikes-- And then he hears something.

It's the tiniest little sniff from in front of him, that shakes Lio from his reverie. When he looks up, Galo's face has crumpled. Emotion smeared down from the top of every orifice, barely holding it all in. He can see the beginnings of snot shining down his philtrum, and tears peaking at the ends of each eye. 

"Galo?" Lio asks, and sets down his mug on the coffee table. "Galo, whats wrong?" Lio shifts over to him on his knees, so they're closer. Hands gingerly cupping his cheeks, inspecting him for damage.

"I- I just-" Galo starts, voice congested and face messy with tears. "It's so sad!" He blurts, and suddenly grabs the tiny Lio before him and pulls him into his lap, swaddling him in his big arms and warm chest. One hand gently leaning his head onto his shoulder, cradling him gently, like something precious and innocent.

"It's not fair. It's not-" He sniffs. "You deserved so much more. Your parents, your home-- Not even having food to eat, or places to sleep. Always having to worry people were out to get you like that. Not being able to trust anyone, no matter where you looked... It's horrible, it's too cruel!" Galo is full on crying now, and hugs him tighter. 

Lio had been letting him hold him, because he's used to Galo's touch now, wanting to understand what was wrong-- But realization and emotion hit him all at once, and he finds himself weakly protesting anyways. More habit than anything else, because he can feel the cage around his heart warbling and shaking, and that's never good. Fresh after use containing so much while Lio told the dark tails of that which it had seen. It could not be more vulnerable right now. 

"Its okay." Lio says anyways, more to Galo than himself. Too soft for his own liking. 

"It's not okay! No one deserves to live so harshly. Especially not someone who's as kind and hardworking as you are."

Lio tucks his little fists against the front of Galos shirt, kneading and gripping anxiously. "I'm not." He says, and shakes his head. "I just did what needed to be done. I just did what I had to do." He excuses, fighting against the telltale warbling of his lips, which he hides in Galo's neck. Soft hair tickling the warm, tan skin of his boyfriends throat. 

"Bullshit." Galo curses, almost a whisper, and brings Lio ever closer. "So many people died just trying to survive it all, and you went above and beyond it. You had to go through so much, all on your own, and you took it all just so you could help people you didn't even know. Even if they had hurt you."

Lio shrugs softly in his hold, uncaring of whether or not Galo gets it. Trying to ignore the tearing in his own eyes now. "It doesn't matter whether I was the one who did it or not. I just wanted it to happen." Lio says, much too soft. Much too low. "It had to stop."

"You're so kind, and sweet, and selfless, and giving. You've been through so much," Galo pauses, sucking up snot back into his nose and letting out a choked gasp. "I'm so glad you survived. That you're here with me today. That I got to meet you at all." 

Finally the damn bursts, and Lio feels his breathing trip and stumble over itself. He shakes his head into Galo's neck. "No." 

_"Yes._ You deserve to know how much you mean to me. To the world. You're amazing, Lio. You're so, so strong. But you don't have to be so strong anymore." Galo sniffs, and cards a hand through Lio's soft, fluffy blond bob. "I'm here. We're all here for you now. For you and the rest of the burnish."

  
And that's when Galo feels Lio starting to shake in his arms. Shoulders trembling, breathing sharp and uneven. Who knows how long Lio has been holding it all in, unable to let any of it out.

"I wish I could have been there for you." Galo continues, heedless. While his own tears dry, Lio's are just beginning. Galo can feel them, warm on his neck, through his shirt. The soft, adorable little press of his boyfriend, the tight little cling to his clothes. So gentle, so afraid to cling and need and want, even now. He wants to take care of him so bad. "You deserve so much, Lio. I promise, No matter what, you'll always have someone there for you. You'll never, ever have to go through that again. Not if I have anything to say about it."

And Lio says, muffled and shaky, "I know," But Galo doesn't quite believe it because the words seem to unravel him on admittance. The first softest little sob makes its way out from him, and Galo holds him tighter. 

Lio cries and lets go for what Galo is sure, is the first in a very long time. allowing Galo to sit and hold him through it all, for as long as long as he dares to need. Shushing, soothing, rubbing his back and encouraging him all the while, until Lio's soul is a little lighter, and his heart is a little less heavy.

**Author's Note:**

> "galo gets lio to talk about what it was like being a burnish on the run and the more lio talked about it the sadder galo got and at some point he got teary eyed so lio stopped and asked whats wrong, and galo just hugs lio so tightly bc he didnt deserve to go through all of that"
> 
> Thank you to @Kolio_fotia on twit for inspiring this! ( [Link to Original Tweet here!](https://twitter.com/kolio_fotia/status/1221370266707644416) ) I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed reading your tweet. <3
> 
> If you liked it, please comment. It would mean a whole lot to me, and it keeps me motivated to write. Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Title from Oh Wonders song, Heavy. Listen here, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8RmfDg45SE>
> 
> please talk me about promare i love it  
> Twitter [@Rooftoprush](https://twitter.com/rooftoprush)  
> tumbles [rooftoprush.tumblr.com](https://rooftoprush.tumblr.com)


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